The first Austronesians are believed to have originated in the South China area before moving off from the Asian mainland to settle on Taiwan somewhere about 5000-6000 years ago. There they lived relatively undisturbed for some time before one of the Taiwan-Austronesian communities, possibly from the south-east, moved south to the Philippines. Eventually they moved right through the Philippine archipelago. From there one group moved south-west, through Borneo and later Sumatra and Java, with branches penetrating the Malay Peninsula, eastern parts of Vietnam and Cambodia. A second migration from the Philippines moved south into Sulawesi. From there it is believed to have followed two major paths, one through Sulawesi and into the Seram-Ambon area and Timor, and the other towards Halmahera and Irian Jaya. From there the Austronesians are believed to have moved eastwards along the north coast of Papua New Guinea, ending up in the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain and New Ireland), where the pre-Proto-Oceanic community is considered to have remained relatively unmolested until they were ready to move out into the Pacific.